Rangers in seven

I’m back, and picking the Rangers again. I know, I should have posted all of my picks yesterday, prior to Game 1s of the two conference semifinals that began last night. Nevertheless, here are my picks:

Rangers in 7.
Flyers in 7.
Red Wings in 6.
Sharks in 6.

Anybody want to join in? By the way, did anybody get all eight series correct the last time we picked? I haven’t had time to go back and check, but I will. I missed on two series — I had Ottawa upsetting Pittsburgh (that was close, huh?) and Anaheim beating Dallas, I think. Lots of you guys had seven of eight. I don’t think anybody had all eight.

Series trivia: Which two NHL arenas are the oldest in the league? Right, the two in this series, the Igloo (currently called Mellon Arena) and the Garden (the World’s Most Famous Arena that isn’t really even as famous as the arena in the same city, up in the Bronx).

One more thing. People are now spitting out all sorts of conjecture about “The NHL wants Sidney Crosby in the finals” and/or “The NHL wants a New York team in the finals.” And we are sure to be hit with all sorts of conspiracy theories, as was the case in the last series, where many of you thought the league bowed to Lou Lamoriello, and thus called unjust penalties against the Rangers for that reason. Well, the Penguins will dive, and they will draw penalties that aren’t really penalties, or maybe not very severe penalties. That’s just reality.

But if the league really decides which teams it wants in the finals, how the heck did we end up with the finals we had in the last three years? I mean, Anaheim-Ottawa? Carolina-Edmonton? Tampa Bay-Calgary? I don’t think so. Wouldn’t the Rangers be in there more than once since 1979? Yep.

Carp – RE: the last 3 seasons of finals. I never agree with conspiricy theories. But I’ll take a different angle with this one. Those 6(really 5) are small market teams. The extra revenue that appearing in the finals and all the bells and whistles that come along with it benefit the league. NY is going to generate tons of revenue whether they’re in or not. Can’t say the same for 5 of those cities above. So it may not be to promote the game, rather sustain the financial foothold in those cities. I don’t know, just a thought.

I went to that game as well Beerâ€¦ got totally wasted and ran into Hollweg after the game at Local. He was there by himself as he wasnâ€™t playing. Chatted with him for a minute or two but have no idea what either of us said as i was so drunk. Anyway mentioned it to Shanny at the chartity thing I met him at in Nantucket last summer and he said he had gone there too after the game. Iâ€™ve been to Local a ton before and never knew the team hung out there after games. Anyone else ever run into any players there post games or was it just a fluke?

I don’t think there’s a Conspiracy to get any 1 team into the Finals or not. BUT, the league has spent nearly all of its marketing to push Sidney down everybody’s throats (and save the game of hockey). It would be bad business if the golden child was shown, in a game situation to dive and manufacture penalties. As much as I’d hate to say it, I can see calls going his way, just so the league in general doesn’t lose face.

In game 1, Sean Avery will annoy the hell out of the entire penguins team to a point where they will all refuse to play us ever again, Shannahan will actually be visible on the ice outside of penalty killing, and Jagr will be cheered by the fans as the game’s #1 star while women at the Mellon Arena throw their bras and and panties onto the ice. Ryan Hollwegg will then scamper onto the ice and steal all of the undergarments because, he’s weird.

Was someone asking about the “Undefeated” hat Avery was wearing? All I know is the Undefeated store is around the corner from me here in LA and every couple of months there is a release of new models “collector” sneakers and, I kid you not, there’s dozens of people who sleep in front of the store to be able to get ‘em.

DB – Look at what happened in that 1 game we had against the Penguins (forget which one). Where Sid totally faked getting high-sticked in the face. They called him out, and then did a 180 and said they were wrong. The entire time after they “saw the light”, they didn’t show the replay once, to prove he DID get hit.

Impartial reffing will go out the window like a guy with 200K and a parachute in the great NW.

Pens in 7 because of the refs. Crosby will crosscheck a Ranger down in front of the ref then dive in ot giving the Pens a pp. The Rangers will trty to clear the puck but it will hit an out of position ref and the pens will win rthe series. Buttman will levvy a giantic fine against the Ranger as they clAIM THE FIX WAS IN. As far as the series be afraid of Ryan Malone be very afraid. Malkin is the best player while Crosby is the best diver but watch out for Malone who has turned into a top line power forward. The Rangers d is far from gritty and he could give em all kinds of trouble in front of the net.

Beer thats actually a funny story…If I remember correctly, Roberts has been in and out of the lineup all season…and Cindy’s like its gonna be tough to fill the void left…is that like saying, well…we don’t have Malik or Prucha playing tonight, its gonna be tough, don’t know how we are gonna play?

Just saw a report out that Gary Roberts declared himself unable to play tonight… don’t have link but have cut and pasted below:

PITTSBURGH â€” It looked promising for a while, but in the end, Gary Roberts declared himself unable to play in the opener of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ second-round NHL playoff series against the New York Rangers.

Roberts has not played since the second game of the Penguins’ Eastern Conference quarter-final series against the Ottawa Senators because of a groin injury. The Rangers present a much tougher opponent than the Senators, however, and the 41-year-old Roberts’ scrappy presence will be missed.

“Not having him is definitely tough,” Penguins star Sidney Crosby said. “But we found a way to fill in for guys during the [regular] season and we have to do it again.”

I was 7 out of 8 in the last round, with the only series I missed being Boston-Montreal, where I picked Boston in 7. I made that pick under the impression that Patrice Bergeron would be healthy enough to play. If he had, Boston would have won that series too, in 6. The game that would have been different? The 1-0 game. They wouldn’t have needed to go to 7. So I’m feeling pretty good about myself.

As for this round, I have:

Wings in 5
Dallas in 6
Montreal in 7

and I still haven’t made up my mind about this series, so I’m going to let you guys convince me. My gut is telling me Penguins in 5. It all comes down to special teams. I think we take too many penalties, and our PK was awful in the last series. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh’s PP is phenomenal. If our PK plays the way it did the last series, I bet the Pens are 33% on the PP. And I think that since that most of the games in this series will be decided by one or two goals, those one or two PP goals shift the balance towards the Penguins giving us a quick exit.

Otherwise, I’ve got Rangers in 7, with each team winning two games by 1 goal, the Rangers winning one game by 2, and each team winning a game by 3 or more. All of these goal predictions do not count empty net goals, which would turn an otherwise one goal game into a two goal game.

So tell me why I should go Rangers. I’m really worried about Pittsburgh.

“Pens in 7 because of the refs. Crosby will crosscheck a Ranger down in front of the ref then dive in ot giving the Pens a pp. The Rangers will trty to clear the puck but it will hit an out of position ref and the pens will win rthe series. Buttman will levvy a giantic fine against the Ranger as they clAIM THE FIX WAS IN. As far as the series be afraid of Ryan Malone be very afraid. Malkin is the best player while Crosby is the best diver but watch out for Malone who has turned into a top line power forward. The Rangers d is far from gritty and he could give em all kinds of trouble in front of the net.”

Doodie,
The Pens are a good team but come on…the Rangers are just as good and more experienced…we had a decent record against them in the regular season…
our young guns are a force. Remember how Callahan played in the first round, remember the physical play… I think the key to this series is making sure Crosby and Malkin are hit cleanly but hit hard…they must pay for hanging on to the puck…this series is totally winnable. Sure they have good players but so do we…if we play our game this series is ours…last years Buffalo team, it think was better than this years Pens IMO…

Sir, with all due respect, not a soul across the pond knows what that arena up in the Bronx is, since not too many people in the world care about baseball. While it may be a stretch to call MSG the Most Famous Arena in the whole WORLD (Wembley?), the Garden is indeed the most famous of all NY/USA venues.